Is this latest version of MK worth your time and investment? Dave's Mortal Kombat Forums Moderator scorpio's review of the Mortal Kombat Plug-N-Play TV Game will help you decide.

PACKAGING/ADVERTISING:

The words "False Advertising" come to mind. If you look at the box, all of the screen shots (minus one) shows actual arcade shots of the original mk game. Only one screen shows what the plug-n-play actually looks like (the bottom left picture on the back of the box).

On the front of the box, it says "Built-In Memory - Save your progress". During the single player game, it never saved my high scores..not once (it is unknown to me if it does this on the 2 player game as I never tried to see if it saved).

Also, on the back of the box, it shows pictures of the controller. Pictures that really look nothing like the product you purchased. As you can see, the controller pictured is yellow trimmed in red, with an "up and down" on/off switch and a large start button, while the finished product was all black, yellow/red/orange dragon background, with a "left and right" on/off switch and a small start button.

The package is very colorful, and looks great. But the lack of actual screen shots kind of leads people to believe that they're actually getting a arcade copy of the game.

SCORE: 3 out of 10

THE CONTROLLER:

The controller it self is not that great either. It's made of a hard plastic, witch is uncomfortable. The handles are short, which is also annoying and makes the gameplay a little harder as it's hard to hold onto it. And the hard plastic d-pad can be a pain as well.

The attack buttons click loudly when you play, so all you under aged kids that got your hands on this some way, will get caught playing it after your parents go to bed, as they'll probably hear the buttons. Although it doesn't feel right, the d-pad and attack buttons respond extremely well.

The controller looks cool and screams "MORTAL KOMBAAAAT!!", but it's just too small and bulky.

SCORE: 4 out of 10

THE GAMEPLAY:

The gameplay on this, is better then the gameplay on the SNES and Genesis. It's fast and responsive. If you play the SNES version (which is slow and sluggish), then play the plug-n-play, the speed will blow you away. All the original Fatalities are there, as are the special moves, that some versions of this game lacked.

Fighting the AI can be really frustrating as the game goes on. As the game progresses, the AI becomes very cheap, walking up and spamming the punch button (blocking will not help you) until you're dead, or use an AI pattern to escape. Shang Tsung, being the cheapest, will hit you with 10 fireballs when you jump, and you'll die before you even hit the ground.

During some of the fights I noticed some of the backgrounds (and a number of other things) messed up and had things change colors, or vanish all together. It says in the games booklet, that the cause of this is due to using used batteries and such. But I used 4 spanking new batteries for it, so maybe its a brand issue?

Though the AI can be cheap (and it falls for a very simple pattern, which can make the game very easy) the gameplay is fast and most of all fun.

SCORE: 8 out of 10

GRAPHICS/SOUND:

The graphics aren't as good as the actual arcade MK or the PS2 port that came in the special edition with MKD, but its better looking then SNES, Genesis, and every handheld versions of the game. They aren't the best graphics in the world, but in 1992 these kind of graphics ruled gaming..ahhh, those were the days!

SCORE: 7 out of 10

The sound in this game is average. Some of it sounds good, and yet the other half sounds a bit distorted. There's some sounds and music that you'll occasionally hear that will make you say "wtf was that?" But that may be related with the whole "battery issue". Other than the occasional "sound glitch?" the sound is pretty decent.

SCORE: 7 out of 10

OVERALL:

Overall, this game could have been better, well, the experience anyway. The gameplay etc. was fine other than a few glitches, but the controller it self is what takes all the fun out of it. You may get sore hands playing this one (as a result of the hard ass controller) but when the blood splatters, it all seems worth it in a strange way.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.5 out of 10

By: scorpio
Date: August 1st, 2005